Ariel's 2 Days Tiantai Mountain Trip - Get Close to Nature

Located in Tiantai Town, Qionglai city of Chengdu, Tiantai Mountain is about 110 kilometers away from Chengdu. It took us about 2 hrs bus-driving to Qionglai city from Chengdu Xinnanmen bus station（成都新南门车站）and another 1.5 hour to Tiantai Mountain by local bus in Qionglai downtown.

Once arrival, we could hardly wait to get off the bus by checking our personal goods. After stretched our legs, we began our trip here.

We got off the train at Xichang about 7:00am. Then we took a taxi to the hotel we booked in advance (I can’t remember the hotel name right now) and checked in. with a breakfast, we went ahead to meet our friend in Xichang.

Our Route: The Gate(山门)-Wanshuiqiao(玩水桥)-Changhong waterfall (长虹瀑布)-Xiaotianti (小天梯)-Yixiantian (一线天)-Huashilin (花石林)- Zhengtiantai (正天台)- Leiyin temple (雷音寺)- Shibalixiangcaogou boat rafting (十八里香草沟)

Known as a summer resort, it attracts many tourists, mostly like us from Chengdu or nearby.

With babbling water and cool temperature, Tiantai Mountain is also a good place to take wedding photos in summer time. We were lucky to encounter a one when went inside the gate.

Beautiful Waterfall in Tiantai Mountain

With good luck, we move forward. Along the way, there were some natural small waterfall and some manmade buildings and sites, such as boat rafting, waterwheel, suspension bridge, the love way chain bridge(同心索) during those two days.

We met two lovely bridges during our hiking time

A bonus for me: After the first half day visit, we arrived the halfway (maybe around 等乐安 site), we were supposed to go down to find hotel until we meet some local farmers, who were waiting on the way and managed to convince us to stay in their own house (乡村别墅) and they did. After a simple checking in our room with a twin-bed, TV and a basic private bathroom, etc., we found a tea plantation around. It was the first time that I saw a grass of green tea plantation in such a quiet mountain area with fresh air mixed with birds chirp and animals’ sounds. Seeing the smoke rising from the kitchen chimney of house-owner, we knew the meal was ready. With a quite simple and little pricey dinner, we went to sleep early.

We immersed ourselves in the tranquility of the nature

On the next day, we continued the hiking up and then went down the mountain by the sightseeing bus and took local bus to Qionglai downtown then backtrack to Chengdu, which was quite late in the afternoon.

The above was our trip in 2010, and we took much time to transfer on the way. Now things change rapidly. It only takes half hour from Chengdu to Qionglai by C-train and there are 15 trains for you to choose daily from 07:00-21:00.

If you are happen to be in Chengdu or nearby or want to find some nature and relax yourself, Tiantai Mountain is a good destination to stay away from the city, especially in Summer time. Instead of joining in the crowd in holiday, you can pick a free weekend and enjoy a really leisure time there with your friends and family members.